Alcatel said it won a contract from Nanjing Toptry China-Spacenet for turnkey delivery of a “DSL in-the-sky” broadband access network, including a satellite gateway, customer-premises equipment and a comprehensive network management platform. The value of the contract wasn’t disclosed.
Exports to China
UTStarcom said it signed its first contract in Europe -- with Cyprus telecom authority to supply its broadband multiservice access network to support the regulator’s nationwide rollout of a fiber-to-the-cabinet network for enterprise and residential subscribers throughout the country. The company separately said it signed a $43 million contract with China Netcom to deploy its IP-based PAS (personal access system) equipment.
Inmarsat’s Satellite Control Dept. said it provided launch support activity for Astrium’s Hellas Sat satellite. The department provides postlaunch transfer orbit operations via Inmarsat’s Satellite Control Center in London and tracking, telemetry and control stations in Italy, China and Canada.
The Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF), set up by Congress to help small communications firms get started, has spent nearly as much on salaries as it has investing in companies, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity. The study released late Wed. said TDF paid $7.25 million in executive salaries and administrative costs from 1998 through 2001 while investing $9.4 million in 7 companies. The center also questioned why FCC Chmn. Powell appointed himself to the board, saying there could be conflicts in the top regulator’s having involvement in a venture capital fund. An FCC spokesman noted that the Telecom Act, which created TDF, required the FCC to have a representative on the board, along with representatives of the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Dept. and 4 public members. Then-FCC Chmn. William Kennard also was on TDF, the spokesman said. TDF is funded by interest payments on up-front deposits paid by companies participating in spectrum auctions. The study also said TDF CEO Ginger Lew, ex-Small Business Administration, was paid $245,000 in 2001 and said she had connections to John Huang, who was involved in a campaign finance scandal during the Clinton Administration that was known as China-gate. The center’s news release quoted Lew as saying her only connection to Huang was that they worked at the Commerce Dept. at the same time. The center also questioned why the board of directors and its advisory board were almost entirely made up of representatives of large companies, saying there should be input from small business representatives.
Ericsson said it signed a $30 million contract with Guangxi Mobile for the expansion of its existing GSM/GPRS network in China in both metro and rural areas. It said the expansion would increase the subscriber capacity of the GSM network to 4.5 million.
GENEVA -- Twenty-six European administrations now support a common proposal for the World Radio Conference (WRC) on protection values to allow smaller fixed satellite service (FSS) antennas at 13.75-14 GHz, solidifying support around what supporters view as a tenable compromise. “Nobody in Europe will oppose it. It is quite unusual,” Francois Rancy, Conference of European Postal & Telecom (CEPT) Administrations coordinator for WRC, told us at the conference here. In contrast, the U.S. position would keep the current limit of 4.5 m on FSS earth stations to protect military radars. The divergent views reflect the challenge at the conference of balancing protection of military radars used by some NATO countries and the U.S. against allowing smaller FSS earth stations for broader rollout of broadband applications in the band.
Nokia raised its estimate for the total number of mobile subscribers, saying it would reach 1.6 billion by the end of 2005. Following a Tues. announcement that its 2nd-quarter sales growth would likely be “at the low end or below” the 4%-12% it had forecast due to economic weakness in Europe and the U.S. and the effect of SARS in China, the company said Wed. it expected worldwide handset sales to grow 10% this year to about 450 million units, driven by new users, multimedia and corporate mobility. In a separate statement, Nokia said it would supply Telefonica Moviles Mexico with at least 50% of its GSM radio-access network and its entire GPRS core network.
GENEVA -- The World Radio Conference (WRC) here Tues. moved Boeing a step closer to a global secondary allocation for its in-flight broadband service Connexion. A working group of the committee that oversees allocation policy approved an extension of the mobile satellite service (MSS) on a secondary basis at 14-14.5 GHz for aeronautical MSS. While the proposal is expected to pass the full committee, with yet another subgroup poised to take up regulatory issues, the decision was seen as significant because it came after last-minute bickering over finer procedural points. U.S. officials have termed the proposal a top priority for this WRC, which runs through July 4.
Qualcomm said it would invest up to $100 million in early to mid-stage Chinese companies engaged in the development and commercialization of CDMA-based products, applications and services. As part of Qualcomm’s $500 million commitment announced in Nov. 2000, the company said venture investments in a variety of market segments in China would promote the continued adoption of CDMA worldwide, and would benefit Chinese companies by providing them with access to Qualcomm’s products, technologies, and business and strategic relationships throughout the industry.
Nokia said it received a license to make and sell mobile products using CDMA technology in China, and said it planned to start deliveries of its first CDMA terminals in the 2nd half this year. Nokia said it planned to build an “equally strong” presence in CDMA in China as it had in GSM.